


Broken Heiress

by orphan_account



Category: Exit/Corners
Genre: Blind!Liza, Child Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gaslighting, Graphic Description of Blood and Injuries, Human Experimentation, Non-binary character, Trans Characters, btw these r trigger tags not like. Main Plot Points, ill tag the rest as i go, now to Normal Tags, they are all lgeebeetee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-26 19:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12564312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A heiress must be the perfect representation of her family and her fortune.  Any flaw must be dealt with as swiftly as possible and at all costs.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bobthebobking](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobthebobking/gifts).



> major spoilers for e/c, esp. chapter 12!!!!!! if u ahvent played it u will be v Confused

Every kid dreams of reaching the floor while sitting down. it is like a rite of passage, the coming-of-age. For Liza, however, it was something she yearned even more.

The chair she sat on could’ve been ten feet above the air, she wouldn’t know. If she moved at all she could’ve fallen into that abyss. At least that’s what she believed.

Breath in, breath out. Liza balanced her hands on her lap.

“Papa?” She called out at the darkness. A hand took hers gently.

“I’m here, Liza. I’m right here beside you.”

_I can’t see you. I don’t know if you’re there. Are you there? Is it really my father who’s there?_

She almost slapped her hands on his face, wanting to find some proof it was really Mr. Nolan Thatcher who sat there. But as much as she rubbed the man’s cheeks, wrinkles, neck, hands…. She didn’t remember how he felt like. She could only _trust._

_Trust me, Liza! I would never hurt you! Stop--_

A screeching high-pitched scream filled her ears. It felt like it was hers, but she felt so detached from the world she couldn’t be sure. She writhed in her chair, twisting her arms trying to get that horrible scream, that horrible feeling out of her.

The man grabbed a hold of her shoulders tight, almost shaking her with his own shivers alone.

“What’s wrong? Calm down, Liza, calm _down_ \--”

Suddenly the screech stopped. Her heartbeat slowed to snail’s pace. She went from the brink of nausea to horrible weightlessness. She was so exhausted after that, so horribly uncertain.

“Liza?”

Her cheeks were burning and waves of malaise struck her like whips. She tried to voice some agreement, a word that could show she was listening. But the only thing that came out was blood and bile as she coughed into the man’s chest. Liza’s vision was already dark, so she could only realize she had fainted when she next woke up.

“Miss Thatcher?” “Liza, dear, please wake up…” Voices mumbled all around her. She was already conscious but stayed still. She hoped no one would notice her awake.

Footsteps walked over the place, up and down, loud and quiet.

“Hello?” Finally, Liza sat up, the exam room paper sticking to her sweaty back and making way more noise than she had hoped. Everyone in the room rushed over to her, their footsteps stomping like elephants.

“Open your eyes, my dear.” She did as she was told, but the cold air made her eyes sting and she closed them again.

“I can’t, I can’t--” She cried, but the someone grabbed her eyelids and pulled them up farther than necessary. Her eyes stung and twitched, but there was nothing she could do. She saw something brighten her dim vision, and it only increased the burning sensation that engulfed her pupils. “Stop! Stop, Papa, stop! Oww!”

Liza swung her body around; her fists landing on his shoulders, her kicks on his shins. Suddenly he let her go, and she fell back on the examination bed.

Her eyes were numb, but she knew well that she was crying when she felt the tell-tale stream of water run down her cheeks.

“Blood!” A woman’s voice cried out and something wiped her tears away. She opened her eyes again to let her tears out but closed them shut as soon as it burned again. She reached towards someone’s sleeve and begged:

“Make it stop!”

But they didn’t do anything. No one spoke a word. Not one “it’ll be okay” or any other reassurance. It was almost as if they had disappeared; only she could hear their breathing and whispers, their writing and footsteps.

She laid back down on the table. She thought that maybe if she went to sleep she’d wake up to sight again.

Her breathing steadied, and she tried to listen to the conversation in the room.

“Chances of recovery are very, very low in these cases.”

Blood began to spill from her eyes again.

* * *

 

Ink always suspected something was odd with Liza Thatcher. But he never expected it to be this.

“You’re… blind?”

The girl looked to the ground and hung her head low. “Not exactly. I mean, I _was…_ ” Suddenly all eyes are on her. Having four pairs of eyes watching her every move was way more unnerving than she remembered.

Aether was the first to speak up. “You mean… you were blind,” Liza nodded. “But now you can see?”

With her regained sight she watched as the Contestants around her fidgeted with nerves: Beth furrowed her eyebrows, relaxed them, furrowed them again. Rae cracked his knuckles repeatedly. Aether, as always, hid in the hood of her sweater.

“Yes.” She didn’t know what else to say. Her mind wandered; what should she say, what were they going to say, what should she do?

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?! This could’ve helped us figure shit out!” Rae shouted, intimidatingly moving forward towards her, chest puffed and eyes locked with hers.

Beth lay a hand on his shoulder, but it didn't stop him. Liza only stared back at him, standoffish.

She was about to start telling him off, but a hand placed on her shoulder as well and Aether’s soft smile took her anger away.

“We don’t have time to fight.” She said. “And Rae, be nice.” Ink stood behind her, fiddling with his Gemini. When he finished typing, he spoke up.

“Liza, how exactly did you, um… become blind?” He seemed afraid to hurt her with any insensitive comment, even though a question like that wasn’t going to make her burst into tears--

_Liza, dear. Wake up._

She felt shaken again, that kind of nervous that comes from shock, like when she first woke up in this godawful place.

_What is it, Daddy? …It’s too late, I’m tired. Let me go back to sleep…_

She fell to the ground, Aether kneeling down next to her. The girl’s eyes watched her with confusion, pity, so many kind emotions at the same time that made Liza feel uncomfortable.

_It’ll be fine. I need you to help Papa with his experiment, darling. Can’t you do that for me?_

Blood spilled from her mouth to her shirt, her skirt, her legs, the floor. Everything was covered in deep maroon. Aether shouted for Beth, holding onto Liza’s hand all the while. “Breathe. Can you hear me? What do you feel?”

_Mmkay._

It seemed endless as if she had an infinite amount of blood available for her to waste on the ground. The old nurse lifted Liza’s chin up, only to find that the girl had fallen unconscious already. Her eyes were closed but her mouth was open, trickles of that substance so important to human life coming out steady from the corner.

“Rae! Grab her head, now! Ink, her torso! Don’t just stand there; hurry _up!_ ” The men nodded, lifting Liza up and walking with Beth and Aether holding onto her legs at the rear.

They laid her down on the couch of the lounge. She woke up just as her body convulsed and she threw up another pint or so. They quickly began to talk to her, all at the same time. But she was far from listening.

_You might feel a little pinch, but then you’ll start to fall asleep again, okay? Close your eyes and..._

Her vision started to blur and darken. If she was going blind again, she might as well. All she wanted was to return to normality, return to her home, escape this.

_No! I don’t want to! Leave me alone! Papa--_

There was little she could do to avoid falling knocked out cold again.

Her mother had died only a week after her sixth birthday. Her father, usually devoted ardently to studies, took a half a year break from them to be completely focused on his grief.

Her funeral was a beautiful affair. Flowers in rows and columns were set from before on the walls of her private mausoleum. Pallbearers followed by what seemed like hundreds of Beatrice Thatcher’s friends, family, colleagues, and admirers brought her wooden coffin to the place it would rest forever.

After a while of listening to grown-ups cry and whine, Liza had had enough. She sneaked out of the cold and dark mausoleum to the garden outside.

Her mother had been a renowned botanist. Her garden was filled with herbs, flowers, and trees; most anything that could be grown. Liza was her self-proclaimed assistant, carrying microscopes and bags, seeds and dirt, fertilizers and compost. Many dresses had been ruined in pursuit of science.

She knelt down next to the hydrangeas, running her fingers by the bunches of blue-ish purple flowers. Had someone remembered to water them? Probably not.

Lugging a watering can probably half her weight across the garden, Liza watered all the flowers she could. When she was done and more than exhausted, she fell asleep on the ground, allowing herself to water the plants with her grieving tears.

* * *

 

They decided to have Rae keep watch on the unconscious Liza. He didn’t complain; his arm hurt like hell that he was glad as fuck that everyone had unanimously agreed. His pride was hurt being underestimated like that, but it was no time to be tough. He lay down on the couch opposite to the girl’s, placed what was left of his arm parallel to his chest and breathed.

Then he started crying.

Maybe crying was an understatement. He was full-on sobbing. He would choke on his need for air and breathe in sharp hisses. He abandoned all dignity and just cried and cried and cried, not bothering to wipe his tears because he knew they’d just come back.

Liza tried to sleep through it, she really did. But once she heard a panicked Rae scream into the back of the couch, she couldn’t stay silent anymore.

“Rae…” Her voice was still raspy and weak. She wanted to go back to sleep, but she threw her own want out to help the grown adult who cried out in harsh howls. She couldn’t even imagine it. His whole arm…

“Oh… You’re up. Um, how do you feel? You were real, uh…” Rae seemed to have a hard time showing genuine concern. “Fucked up back there.”

She _wanted_ to mock him for that, but pain in her head and nausea in her stomach shut her up. Pain beat in her head like a drum, over and over and over and--

“Rae…” Liza groaned, feeling that horrible feeling in her chest. “Rae… Help, please--” He looked at her in horror as she put her head down and let the blood fall from her mouth in a seemingly impossible quantity.

“Shit, I should get Aether and--”

“No. Stay,” She lifted her head languidly, blood covering her chin and her mouth like some failed lipstick experiment. She looked awful, even more awful than Rae himself. Her skin was stark pale and dripping with sweat. But her eyes were what shook his core.

They were full of tears and watched his every move, begging him to come back. He turned back and sat beside her.

“Do something…” He wasn’t good at comforting. “Take off my jacket.”

If Ink was here, he would’ve thought of that sooner. He would’ve noticed her jacket being soaked with blood and how uncomfortable that must’ve been. He would’ve taken it off and given her his jacket. He would’ve done everything Rae should’ve done, better and faster than Rae did.

He couldn’t give her his jacket since it was stuck to his body by the scarf stopping the blood from ruining it even more.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Aether, Ink, and Beth came back. They looked exhausted and shocked… He wanted to ask, but if it was important they would tell him, right?

“Hey, Liza, hey, Rae… How are you two doing?” Aether asked, collapsing on the couch.

_My arm’s gone and Liza keeps losing blood by the minute. But, yeah, of course, we’re doing fucking swell._

He didn’t say any of that, but he didn’t say anything at all either. Everyone was so tired… So horribly tired, so fucking exhausted…

* * *

 

Beth held the sword pointing downwards. It seemed way too heavy for her, but her determination would push her through.

Liza couldn’t look. She would’ve stepped outside if Rae had not begged for company.

“Ready?” Beth asked, fixing her grip on the sword. He closed his eyes and lowered his head on top of his trapped arm. He breathed in and pulled back.

Ink knelt down beside him and held his hand while Aether did the same. Only Liza stayed behind, useless in her shock.

“Sent! Please! Come on, knock it off!” She begged, but their tormenter did not reply. “Sent, Sent, _Sent!_ ”

“Give it up. Fuck everything. This is happening. Go ahead, Beth.” Rae whimpered. The old lady gave him a compassionate pat.

“Aether, stand by to wrap the wound…” His cries grew even louder. They waited for him to calm down, which took seemingly forever.

“One, two… and,” Sharp inhales resonated through the room. The sword began to rise above the air until it stopped and began to fall down toward its target. “Three!”

As much as they had hoped they would go through it in one blow, it got stuck between his bone and the sword rose two times before they finally got it off.

Blood-curdling screams pierced the air with no sign of stopping. There was no way to describe the pain and loss he felt.

He almost crushed the hands he held onto, and as Aether wrapped his wound tight he hissed. Nothing could even begin to compare to how he felt. After having coughed up blood relatively as much blood as the amount that flowed from what was once was Rae’s arm to the floor, she thought she would’ve been used to it by now. But the shock of it all made her uneasy.

“Let’s carry him over--”

Rae started screaming again. His hoarse voice hollering, howling in pain and irritation. “No! Don’t you touch me! No! Stop, you, you… Stop!” He flailed as Ink dragged him away from the room. “Bring me back! My arm, my goddamn arm! Fuck, let me go, you _prick!_ Get my _arm!_ ” The rest followed quickly behind, but Liza could only stare at bleeding, pulsing limb they left behind. A part of Rae, that had carried people and animals, fixed things and broken them.

She fell to the floor coughing in disbelief. Blood fell like waterfalls from her mouth. As much as she tried to stop it, Liza couldn’t tear her eyes from the machine and its new, bloody component.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, dumping a shipload of trans shit on these characters to make myself feel better: hi
> 
> uhh just wanna remind u that this chapter has like read-between-the-lines abuse but its gonna. prolly get more explicit as the story goes a long so if that makes u uncomfortable, please dont read

It all started when she was 15. She had started to attend Saint Joseph’s School For The Blind, a boarding school in upper Newfoundland. Her father had expressed great excitement for his daughter to attend a school where she would be able to make friends like her. For the last 8 or so years, she had been alone, her only friends were her nanny, her pets and her own self.

Liza packed in great quantities for her stay; her teddy bear and her clothes, plates and knick-knacks to make her feel at home. She even brought her pet Akita to school with her. She was as comfortable as she could be.

But was she? At home, she was able to wear whatever she wanted. There was no need for formalities; she was always “you”.

But here, she had to wear jumpers and skirts, dresses and bows in her hair. Her hair was to be kept long and styled, just like a proper lady’s. She was to always be addressed as “Miss Thatcher” or “Liza” or… “she”.

It’s  _ very _ different for the blind, rich, sheltered person to know what she felt. She had never, ever in her life thought anyone could be anything but a girl or a boy. It was an unspoken rule. But even though she hadn’t heard of it, even though she couldn’t see herself… it still made her uncomfortable. The skirt that left her feeling almost naked, the irritating sound of “Miss Thatcher, Lady Thatcher, that troublesome girl”, her curled hair falling down reaching her back and being seperated for ever from other people and shoved to her female “friends”, whose only preoccupation was which one got kissed by what boy. They were all like sandpaper on Liza’s skin.

After only a few months in their company, she already felt deeply uncomfortable. She wished she was back in her home again. She could just laze in her bed with her pajamas on and only be bothered by the maid bringing her food. No “Miss Thatcher or Lady”. Just Liza. Just herself,  _ themself. _

* * *

 

Everything grows over time.

A family grows, money grows, people grow, both physically and mentally. Liza knew life wouldn’t stay static forever; she had known that ever since her mother died. But she could keep dreaming.

As the years passed, the rift between Liza and her father grew ever larger. By time, they would only talk to each other when it was truly necessary. A single “good morning” was enough to last them a few days. She must’ve talked more to her mother’s spirits than to her own living father. They were both too busy to care. 

Thatcher Pharmaceuticals kept growing at alarming rates before her very eyes. Many were the days he would lock himself in his study with his tower of papers before him, signing contracts and product testing frantically.

It was one of those days and she was bored, tired of passing her fingers through rough, long books she couldn’t care less about. Dots etched into the book’s skin, bringing letters and words with them. Monotone algebraic expressions were whispered into her head over and over again.

Find the x. Find the y. Find the simplified factor of 1/7x. 

It all blurred in her mind, stuffed together into her memory that substituted for paper. She couldn’t even see x, couldn’t see the connection between the two.

Liza was tired, went up to her father with determination to take a break over town. Loiter around at the shops, eat some food, laugh and talk like a girl of her age should if she wasn’t shut down by her cursed vision.

“Father?” She knocked with a breath of courage. Cold stale air circulated through her body and left as soon as it came. 

He didn’t answer. She knocked again.

He didn’t answer. She knocked again.

He didn’t answer. She left again.

Left to her prison cell and locked herself in again.

* * *

 

Aether considered herself lucky. She was of perfectly good health, both mentally and physically. She lived a happy, peaceful life as long as she didn’t think about him.

She reflected back on her life, wondering to herself what she did to come to this point, sitting in her dorm bed with textbooks around her and an open bag of chips by her side.

She had always been a smart child, prized by everyone around her. She was the model for all her peers. 

It had all gone downhill when she was 13. It was the year that she found out who she was. She looked into herself and accepted what she was.

But not everyone did. It was shocking to them, unacceptable that someone… like her would wear dresses and grow her hair out and do anything even slightly feminine.

Aether didn’t care. It had been too long she had hidden herself under a mask of a person she was not.

Her pen was digging into her thigh in pain and anger, tears welling up in her eyes and self-pity burning in her heart.

She was not happy.

* * *

 

Liza was not happy.

She had never been really. All her 18 years spent in the darkness, always shut inside her house. Never had any friends; not even her father wanted to speak with her.

After finishing school she had come back home, ready to soon leave to begin her college career.

She was laying on her bed, her suitcases still piled on her floor. Her laptop was open to the latest poker server as her text-to-speech program slurred through her opponent’s cards.

“Miss? Your father asks you to come to the study to him. He wants to talk to you.”

Liza nodded, dismissing the maid to whatever other chores she could busy herself with. A few more clicks of the mouse and…

“Done! 34 more dollars on my account and not a single tear shed… I wonder when they’ll notice.”

She found her way to the study quickly; just a perk of having spent countless years in her house that she now knew it like the back of her hand. She didn’t even bother to knock on the door. He  _ had  _ been expecting her.

“Ah, my dear.” He picked her up in a hug. “How are you doing?”

“Good, Father, I’m doing good. Just looking at colleges and relaxing before I have to apply and get back into school.”

She could hear him shifting nervously. “College... where do you want to go?” 

Suddenly, Liza could see all his thoughts. She couldn’t stay here in Bellbridge anymore, stuck in some shitty small town. She couldn’t stay, take some online school. She wasn’t going to be under his shadow forever.

“I was looking for, obviously, colleges good for blind people like me. There’s the Royal College for the blind, obviously a good one… Um, Allegheny is a good one apparently. But yeah, I don’t know. I’ve still been looking.”

“Oh, Liza.” He sighed. He took her into his arms in some kind of stiff hug. It felt so unnatural; one of them was trying to hard, the other, not at all. “I don’t want you to leave me. I worry about you too much, I know… But can you blame me?”

Liza pushed away. She couldn’t believe what he was asking her, no matter how much she had seen it coming. “What?”

“I don’t want you to be hurt all alone in some faraway place. You know, I always want the best for you, and I think the best would be for you to stay here. With me. There’s amazing online college to choose from, and I know how much you love that computer of yours. Just warm up to it.”

She was not happy.

But she swallowed her complaints. She would never be happy, anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks 4 weadwing uwuuwuw,,,,, bwease weave a comment owo sowwy that this chap. was short im busy owo,,,,,,,

**Author's Note:**

> updates will be slow bc of school but i promise they will come!! happy halloween y'all!


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